I was recently speaking to a friend of mine and asked him what he would do if he would have to move in order to progress his career. He simply said he would go as far as a neighboring city but nothing further. He said he wouldn’t like to start all over again meet new people and make new friends.

This is obviously understandable. For some reason, moving to a whole new city or country is often stigmatized. But I feel differently. If my life, education or career required me to move somewhere completely new, I’d be excited.

Here are some reasons why I think being a Third Culture Kid is fantastic:

1. You have international friends

Going to New York? No worries, you have a friend there. Going to Australia? No biggie – got a friend there as well. I could name over 10 countries that I could visit without any hesitation because I know there will be at least one familiar face in the crowd.

2. Incredible knowledge about different cultures

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Do women in Dubai drive? Are all Indians Hindu? Do Canadians really live in igloos? Now, if you were familiarized with more than 3 different cultures, you’d never assume such rumors.

I know for a fact that living in Canada is definitely not the same in each province, similarly living in India does not equate to living in the slums.

5. Visiting a country almost always equates to a reunion

Over the past few years, my friends have traveled internationally for work and school. This is amazing for a person like me because that means I can post things like “Going to Dubai in 3 weeks” and I start getting messages for reunions.

In fact, when I went back “home” recently, I met up with friends from over 10 years ago. It was incredible!

6. Making friends becomes incredibly easy

Because I’ve lived in two continents, three countries, and over 6 cities – I have friends everywhere. But this also means that when I move, I go back to having zero friends. Over the years, I’ve learned that making friends is easy. You don’t need to know people for over 10-15 years to be close.

8. Because you’re so far away from your friends, you cherish them

Every time one of my best friends and I meet, we squeal. Like, Rachel Greene-and-her-friends style. We hug for about five minutes and then gush over how beautiful the other person looks. This ritual takes place regardless of where we are.

10. Lastly, when you get to answer the question “Where are you from?”

I cherish this question, because even though this means that they don’t think I’m Canadian. This also means that it’s story time. I love telling people how my grandfather saved the Muslims in our state in India, or how I was raised in Dubai. I love discusses how different all the lifestyles are in all these cities/countries. It’s an amazing way to start conversations and introducing new topics into the same mediocre topics.

So if you’re a third culture kid like me, and proud of it – show it off. Talk about it. There’s nothing to be afraid of.